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Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Erik Matti’s BuyBust is almost great. As
it is, it’s a solid actioner, especially for those of us who favor the gritty,
down-and-dirty style usually relegated to the direct-to-video realm. Especially
rough around the edges and chaotic, and full of weird-as-hell flourishes, it’s
mean and violent and bleak as hell—be prepared for beheadings and morally
questionable dirty deeds American movies shy away from. Matti and company offer
a non-stop buffet of tension and potential disaster for the stars, all wrapped
in an intriguing commentary on the current state of Philippines society and the
draconian drug war under Duterte.

To know him is to have strong feelings about him. Whatever
your stance, French button-pusher, Gaspar Noé, is back with his latest attempt
to shock and awe and discomfit, Climax. (I, for one, really
want his wife and frequent collaborator, Lucile Hadžihalilović, to make another
movie, because her last one, Evolution, was an all-timer.)
With a title like Climax, and the man himself behind the
camera, you know we’re in for a wild ride, and if you didn’t, this new trailer
drives that point home.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

If you know anything about The Meg, even the simple fact that it involves Jason Statham and a giant shark, and have ever seen a movie, it’s easy to predict what you’re going to get when you sit down in the theater. And The Meg delivers precisely the movie it promises, for better and worse.

Mario Kassar is best known for producing movies like Total Recall, First Blood, Terminator 2, and a certain style of American action movie through his Carolco Pictures. But he’s apparently teaming with Indonesian filmmakers to develop Foxtrot Six, an action/sci-fi film starring the likes of Julie Estelle, Hammer Girl from The Raid 2, and Oka Antara (The Raid 2, Killers). It’s been in the works for a while, but the first teaser dropped today. Check it out.

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Thinking of arthouse powerhouse A24, what comes to mind?
Deft, off-kilter indie dramas? Unusual coming-of-age tales? Prestige horror? Odds are,
when you think of A24 and their output, you probably don’t immediately go to
gritty Muay Thai prison dramas. Well, with the release of Jean-Stephane
Sauvaire’s A Prayer Before Dawn, that line of thinking
certainly has to change.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Calling All Earthlings isn’t a great
documentary. It’s messy and unfocused, threads show up and wander off willy
nilly, and overall, it’s a jumble that lacks much oomph, narrative coherence,
or discernible arc. It’s also bonkers weird, occasionally fascinating, and
offers a unique look at a peculiar slice of wing-nut outsider Americana.

Monday, July 30, 2018

What’s the next move after you make one of the most
critically acclaimed horror movies in years? One that breaks financial records
for the indie art-house studio that backed the project? Well, if you’re Ari
Aster and A24, the team behind Hereditary, you team up again
for a cult-y Scandinavian cult horror film, that’s what.